


i was just an only child of the universe (until i found you)

by 5sexualhomos



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Assistant Louis Tomlinson, Enemies to Lovers, Frat Boy Harry Styles, Graduate School, Hate Sex, M/M, Miscommunication, No Smut, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Teaching Assistant Harry Styles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 17:19:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16246265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5sexualhomos/pseuds/5sexualhomos
Summary: Louis Tomlinson hates Harry Styles, with every fiber in his being.Until on day he doesn't.--In a world where each person has a name on each wrist. One is their soulmate and the other is their greatest enemy. However, there is no way to discern which is which.Sometimes this makes this complicated.





	i was just an only child of the universe (until i found you)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fairytalelights](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairytalelights/gifts).



> Ah this was so much more stressful that i thought it would be. Due to my own shit going on in life as well as lack of motivation. I really did have a great time writing it though as soulmate fics are my absolute fave and I firmly believe there definitely needs to be so much more out in the world. (this is my fourth soulmate au so..) Hope you guys enjoy!

Louis takes a drag from his cigarette and can’t help but admire what a beautiful autumn day it is. Even though it’s nearly October it’s been unseasonably hot; enough so that wearing anything other than shorts and a tank top would feel like you were in the ninth layer of Dante's Inferno. 

So when Louis walked outside of his flat and was greeted by felt the crisp air on his cheeks this morning he was ecstatic. The return of sweater weather meant he could finally wear his signature leather jacket 24/7 again. He might be what most people call punk, with one of his arms littered in random tattoos that he later got turned into a full sleeve, and a handful of piercings including his septum, eyebrow, nipples, and tongue, but he certainly didn’t want to die from heat stroke just for sake of the aesthetic. And so during the summer he would lug his jacket around and wear it inside. Sure, it was a little bit inconvenient, but he can be a bit extra about his jacket. There’s something extremely comforting about of sliding his arms into the well worn sleeves. He would never admit to anyone that even after two years of wearing it everyday it feels like a piece of armor. 

Louis takes another drag and watches the small number students hurrying to night classes around him. The nice thing about being on campus is he doesn’t get weird looks for his tattoos. A lot of older people see them and immediately think he’s some sort of criminal or something. It’s quite hypocritical for anyone in the world to be against tattoos considering that everyone has two soulmarks. 

Everyone in the world wakes up the morning of their eighteenth birthday with a name on each wrist. One of the names is your soulmate, and the other is your greatest enemy. Apparently whatever higher power decided to mark people like this was a sadist. There’s no last name with the marks, so if you have an incredibly common name then you’re kind of fucked. There’s also no way to distinguish which name is your soulmate and which one is your enemy, because apparently knowing that information would be just way too easy. 

Louis looks down at his own soulmarks now. On is left wrist, nearly hidden by is sleeve is the name George. And on his other wrist is Harry. He tends to forget that the tattoos exist despite vein in such a prominent place. He’s not obsessed with finding his soulmate like some people are. As for the other name, he's fairly certain he’s already met his enemy in the form of a douchey frat boy, by the name of Harry Styles. 

Louis checks the time on his phone and sees he only has two minutes to get to his lecture. He quickly puts out his cigarette by smushing it against the brick of the building and puts the butt in his pocket so he can throw it in a trash can later. Louis makes a beeline for the door, and sees Harry Styles also rushing towards the door with a determined look on his face. Because of Harry’s freakishly long legs he gets to the door a fraction of a second before Louis. Harry pulls the door open and turns to see if anyone is behind him. His eyes land on Louis and rather than holding the door open for a few more seconds, he walks through and lets the door close in Louis’ face. 

Fucking dick. 

Louis flings open the door, following the curly haired knob down the hall. 

“Are you so entitled you can’t hold the door for me?” 

“Sorry, didn’t see you,” Harry replies without looking at Louis. “Maybe it’s because you’re so small.” Louis has to fight the urge to punch him in the face. 

“At least I’m not a gangly giant who looks like a frog,” Louis says. 

“Someone’s grumpy today. Did your mom forget to put you down for a nap today?” 

“Go to hell, Styles,” Louis grits out. He eyes the stupid snapback Harry is wearing backwards. Could he be anymore of a stereotypical frat boy? Louis quickly grabs the brim and yanks it off his head. “This is mine now.” Louis puts the hat on his own head, with the brim facing the right way, but not so his entire head is covered. 

Harry seems to be dumbstruck by his actions, and Louis feels like he’s walking on air. One point for him, in the battle that is Harry Styles. Louis opens the door to the lecture hall and doesn’t bother holding it for the other boy. Louis takes a seat in the back row and Harry plops down next to him. Louis doesn’t say anything, he won’t give him the satisfaction. 

“Thank you boys for being on time today!” Professor Corden shouts from the front of room. “Such a lovely example to set for your students.” Everyone turns to look at their TA’s, most of them snickering. 

“Sorry, James,” Harry lies smoothly. “We got caught up reviewing our lesson plans for discussion this week. Making sure we’re on the same page and all. Won’t happen again.” he flashes his signature dickwad smile. 

“Make sure it doesn’t,” he says before turning his attention back to the powerpoint behind him. 

“Meet in the third floor bathroom after this?” Harry whispers, leaning unnecessarily closer to Louis. 

“Fuck you.” Louis keeps his eyes trained on powerpoint. 

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Harry replies smugly as he settles back into his own seat. 

He’s not going to do it. He is stronger than the biological need for sex. He refuses to give Harry what he wants anymore. 

Of course, ten minutes after the lecture is over Louis finds himself on his knees with Harry’s dick in his mouth.

\---

“I can’t fucking stand him,” Louis says as he slams the door to the apartment behind him. He slings his knapsack on the floor before plopping down next to Zayn on the couch.

“What did he do now?” Zayn asks monotonously. He’s used to Louis’ dramatic proclamations after three years of living with him.

“He exists. Isn’t that enough?” 

“You’re such a child,” Niall says walking into the room with a bowl of fresh popcorn. He sits on the other side of Zayn and unpauses the TV. The dark haired boy puts his arm around Niall, and the Irishman leans against his soulmate. The two of them met during freshman year during an art history lecture and immediately knew they were soulmates. At first, Louis was positive that there had been some sort of mistake. It made no sense that the universe put together a bubbly Irishman and one of the most quiet and brooding guys Louis has ever known. But he had quickly seen that they were a good match. Five years later, they mostly annoy Louis with all their lovey dovey crap. 

“He let a door close on my face today because he hates me so much.”

“He’s just trying to get under your skin.”

“Yeah, well, consider him under it,” Louis grumbles. 

“Sure you don’t want to be under him?” Niall waggles his eyebrows suggestively. Zayn smirks knowingly

“Fuck off.” Louis flips him the bird. 

“Don’t pretend like you two haven’t been hooking up for months now,” Niall says. 

“How did you even come up with such a ridiculous notion?” Louis shoots Niall a look that could kill. 

The notion is completely true. Louis thought he had been so careful about keeping it under wraps though. He always made some excuse about working on his dissertation. In reality he had been sneaking off to the Theta Epsilon Tau house to have a quickie with Harry and then be on his way. He may hate the curly haired bastard, but the sex is just way too good to give up. 

“Oh please. It’s the worst kept secret on the planet,” Zayn says. “The whole campus knows. I’m pretty sure there’s a bet going to see how long until you guys figure your shit out.”

“What?!” 

“I started it,” Niall says casually. “The pot is up to about two grand now.”

“Well no one is going to win, because there isn’t anything to figure out between us,” Louis retorts.

“That’s a lie and you know it,” Zayn chimes in. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Louis lies. 

“All you ever do is talk about Harry,” Niall says. “You’re clearly obsessed with him.”

“Yeah, because he’s the worst and I seem to be the only one who sees it.” Louis throws his arms up in frustration.

“Have you ever stopped to think that maybe, just maybe, he’s your soulmate?” Niall stands up. 

“What the fuck?!” Louis practically screeches. He jumps up from the couch. “How could you even suggest that?”

“For one, you’re wearing his hat,” Niall points at Louis’ head. “You could have just knocked it off his head or thrown it in the garbage, but you didn’t. Which I’m assuming you stole from him in an act of childish rage because he said something snarky because he like to get you all hot and bothered, but not for the reasons you think.” Niall explains. So maybe Niall is just a little bit right about the hat. But there’s no possible way he’s right about them being soulmates. That’s just preposterous, right? “Just answer this, what is it that you actually hate about him? Like really genuinely can’t stand.”

Louis opens his mouth to respond, an answer is on the tip of his tongue, but he doesn’t say anything. He stops to think about it, like actually think about it. The list of things he hates seems never ending, like Harry’s stupid curly hair and his Bambi ass legs, and he could just rip those fucking dimples of his face somehow. But the more he thinks about all the things he hates about Harry, he realizes that Niall is right. 

He actually likes Harry.

“Fuck, I gotta go.” Louis quickly leaves the apartment and starts walking towards the TBT house on Greek Row. 

How could he be so oblivious to his own feelings all these months? Their relationship hasn’t exactly been orthodox. They’ve known each other for over a year now, both of them started their masters in Communication Studies last year. And yeah, the second Louis laid eyes on Harry he definitely could not deny that the younger boy was attractive. But when it actually came to getting to know him, Louis couldn’t help but notice an air of superiority just rolling off him in waves. Of course, with Harry’s name on his wrist, he could only assume that they were enemies. Louis wanted nothing to do with him, but being in the same Masters program means that you see a lot of each other in classes. And then the cherry on top, was Professor James Corden choosing them to be his Teaching Assistants. 

After that they had to spend even more time together, and Louis remembers feeling angry about it. But now that he thinks about it, he was obviously in major denial of his connection to Harry.

Louis approaches the house carefully, like it might somehow come to life and swallow him whole. There is a chance that he might also be slightly afraid of the people who actually live inside the house. There’s something extremely unnatural about the way guys in fraternities flock together, and the majority of them always seem to be wearing a variation of a button up shirt, khaki shorts, and boat shoes; almost like they’re clones. The thought sends a shiver down his spine. 

He stands outside on the sidewalk for a few minutes, gathering the nerve to actually admit his feelings to Harry, which he himself has barely any time to process. So this conversation should go really smooth. 

A shrill whistle pierces the air, bringing Louis’ attention to a window on the second floor of the house. Harry is leaning out of it, not wearing a shirt, looking at Louis confusedly. 

“Hi.” Louis gives a small embarrassed wave. He walks closer to the house so he’s not yelling at the top of his lungs. 

“Why are you standing outside, staring at the house like a freak?” Harry asks bluntly. 

“No reason,” Louis says. 

“You’ve never even been here before.”

“Can I come in so we can have a normal conversation?”

“Just a sec,” Harry replies. He closes the window and disappears. 

Now for the difficult part. 

He walks up the the front door and waits. And waits. If Louis had anyway to tell the time he would, but all he can do is stand there and hope that this isn’t just a cruel joke from Harry to get Louis’ hopes up. He’s just about to give up hope of Harry being a decent human being, when the door finally swings open to reveal a slightly frazzled Harry. 

“Sorry about that,” he apologizes. It seems sincere to Louis, but he’s not entirely certain if it is. “I had to put some clothes on. And then my cat coughed up a hairball. Among other things.”

“No worries.”

“You do live somewhere right?”

“Can I- uh- Can I come in?” Louis asks nervously. Harry takes a step back and gestures for Louis to come in. 

“So why are you here?” Harry crosses his arms over his chest. Louis can’t help but admire the way Harry’s arms look in the shirt he’s wearing. “Need my dick that badly?”

Louis snorts and rolls his eyes. “In your dreams, Styles.”

“You sure about that?” Harry asks with a raised eyebrow. He walks towards Louis with a glint in his eyes that’s unreadable. Louis backs up until his back hits the wall. Despite only being a few inches taller than Louis, Harry seems to tower over him. Louis fucking loves it. Harry brings his knee between Louis’ leg and Louis can’t stop the loud moan that comes out of him. He lets his head fall back. God, he could definitely come from this alone. And he wants to. He really really wants to but he came to the frat house for a reason. 

“Stop,” Louis gasps. 

Harry immediately pulls his knee away, and takes a step back. “I’m so sorry. ”

“Don’t be. I want to believe me, but I came here to tell you something, and if I don’t I’ll regret it.” Louis takes a deep calming breath. “There’s a good chance we’re soulmates”. 

Harry stares at Louis for a second before laughing loudly. “You had to come all the way here in the middle of the night to tell me that?”

“Yes?” Louis says, drawing out the ‘s’ slightly. 

“What prompted this declaration?” Harry has an extremely smug look on his face and doesn’t seem surprised, like at all. 

“Why are you not like freaking out?” Louis asks. He’s totally perplexed by this reaction. Yelling and screaming he could understand, and was expecting really. But calm and relaxed? Nope. Does not compute. 

“Do you want me to freak out?” Harry 

“Yes! No! I don’t know ...You just seem like really incredibly calm about this considering you hate me.” Louis looks at his shoes. 

“I don’t hate you.”

Louis stares at Harry in shock. He really shouldn’t be considering that they are most likely soulmates. Liking each other is in the job description really. Louis surges forward to kiss Harry. 

It feels like every atom of his being is on fire. It’s always been said that people feel everything more intensely with their soulmate. And now Louis understands why he hasn’t been able to quit Harry for all these months.

 

Eventually Harry pulls away, and Louis can’t help but whine pitifully at the loss. “Come with me.” Harry grabs onto Louis’ wrist and drags him up the stairs. As they walk down the hall, Harry’s brothers whistle loudly and yell things like “Go get ‘em tiger!” and “Be safe! Use protection!” Harry opens his door and pulls Louis in as well. The momentum of which causes their bodies to collide. Harry wraps his arms around Louis’ waist, effectively keeping him there, not that he wants to try to get away from Harry. Not anymore at least.

Louis tries to read Harry’s face. If anything he would call it fondness, and that makes him feel content. A feeling he’s still trying to get used to. He likes this, likes Harry and he feels like an absolute idiot for not realizing sooner.

“What are you thinking?” Harry asks quietly. 

“I’m thinking about how much I like your stupid face. And how I’m a total fool.”

“You’re not.”

“I am though. We could have been having moments like this for months now. If only I hadn’t been so dense.”

“Hey, hey. Don’t beat yourself up about it.” Harry runs his hands up and down Louis’ arms comfortingly. “ e have the rest of our lives to have moments like this.”

Louis’ breath catches in his throat at the thought of that.

“On the bed, now.” Harry doesn’t let go of Louis as he takes a few steps backwards. So when the backs of Harry’s knees hit the bed, they both tumble onto the mattress, with Louis on top of Harry.

“You okay there, Bambi?” Louis teases. 

“I’m great.” Harry flashes a smile. “You?”

“I’m fantastic.”

“You’re ass is fantastic, too.” Harry grabs both cheeks and squeezes them to make a point.

“Stop objectifying me, you horny monster.” Harry keeps his hands on Louis’ ass. 

“So bossy,” Harry hums. 

“You like it,” Louis says with a devilish grin. 

“Yeah, I do.” Harry says as he reaches up for a kiss. One that Louis is more than willing to reciprocate. Harry’s hips jerk up subconsciously.

Louis pulls his head back slightly. “Whoa, whoa there. We gotta take this thing slow, Styles, I’m not the kind of boy who gives out on the first date. You need to woo me first.”

“I can definitely do that. After all, I have a lot of lost time to make up for.”


End file.
